The magnificent dragon head, exquisite Buddha statues, brick by brick, tile by tile, bowl by bowl... By the Baiyangdian Lake, amidst the fireworks of the ancient town, archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of History, Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and other units, spent 8 years awakening an ancient city that had been dormant for thousands of years - Guzhou City. Over the past 8 years, archaeologists have carried out systematic archaeological work on the Guzhou City site, with a total exploration area of about 300000 square meters and an excavation area of 2600 square meters. Archaeological exploration outlined the layout of the dual city walls inside and outside the site, and archaeological excavations constructed a spatiotemporal framework of the site from the Han, Tang, and Five Dynasties periods. Recently, the "2300 Miles of Chang'an - Archaeological Achievements Exhibition of Xiong'an Ancient City Site" was held at the China Archaeological Museum. This exhibition is the first to systematically showcase the significant archaeological achievements of the Guzhou City site in Xiong'an New Area to the public, vividly demonstrating the profound historical heritage of Xiong'an New Area. Discovered the ruins of Guzhou City, formerly known as Yancheng, which was the county seat of Fuxian during the Han and Tang dynasties and the administrative center of Huzhou (Mo) during the Tang dynasty. This city site witnessed the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties, as well as the five generations of gold, steel, and horses. Like many ancient cities, it was eventually lost in the passage of time. At present, on the southern surface of the site, the outer city wall still stands tall, telling people about the past and new life of an ancient city. Going back to 1976, the ruins of Guzhou City were discovered during a cultural relic survey and have since undergone several archaeological investigations. In 2017, Xiong'an New Area was established. In the same year, the archaeological journey of the ancient city ruins began. Starting from June, the joint archaeological team of Xiong'an New Area will conduct a comprehensive investigation of cultural relics and remains within its jurisdiction. In 2019, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of History, the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and the Xiongxian Cultural and Tourism Bureau jointly formed an archaeological team to conduct unmanned aerial vehicle surveys of the Guzhou City site, draw an integrated topographic map of the current situation of Guzhou City, and preliminarily establish a geographic information system. In addition, a preliminary chronology of historical documents of Guzhou City has been established. In 2020, a comprehensive archaeological exploration was conducted for the first time at the Guzhou City site, preliminarily clarifying the dual structure of the site as Site 1 and Site 2. Comprehensive research indicates that Site 2 may have been the county seat (capital) of Huxian during the Han and Tang dynasties, while Site 1 may have been the capital (capital) of Huzhou during the Tang dynasty, indicating a historical evolution between the two. ”He Suili, the captain of the Xiong'an Archaeological Team at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of History, said. It is worth noting that in 2020, during the dissection and excavation of the inner road of the city wall in the southeast of Site 1, the archaeological team discovered a brick water well from the Sui and Tang dynasties that was stacked under the road. The opening of the water well was 1.5 meters above the surface. Near the bottom of the well, relatively complete relics from the Northern and Sui Tang dynasties, such as red pottery jars, stone carvings, and small wooden combs, were excavated. In the eyes of experts, the discovery and study of water well remains provide strong evidence for determining the construction age of the city wall at the site of Guzhou City No.1. The following year, the archaeological team conducted excavations on the city walls, moat, and roads inside and outside the city walls of Site 2. At the same time, new building sites 3 and 4 were discovered. During the excavation process, a large number of Tang Dynasty bricks, tiles, and other architectural components were unearthed. The blue tiles and tiles revealed the possible existence of higher-level Tang Dynasty buildings in this area, "said He Suili. This was confirmed in subsequent archaeological excavations. In 2023, the archaeological team excavated Site 4 on the west side of Site 3, and preliminarily determined the existence of higher-level temple sites from the Tang Dynasty in Guzhou City. In the same year, the 18th building site was discovered through exploration in the northeast of Site 3, and archaeological excavations were carried out last year, uncovering relics such as Tang Dynasty dragon heads that have attracted widespread attention from academia and society. The discovery of rich relics such as Han Tang city walls, Sui Tang water wells, stone carvings, and Tang Dynasty dragon heads confirms the urban context that has lasted for thousands of years on this land. ”He Suili said. The archaeological findings outline the historical scene, and He Suili still remembers clearly the situation when the dragon head was unearthed. "At the time of excavation, the surface was covered with soil, and although the appearance was relatively intact, the interior had been broken into hundreds of pieces. Under the brushes of the archaeologists, the gray pottery body of the dragon's head revealed the remains of colored paintings - black eyes, green eyeliner, etc. The day the dragon head was discovered was on October 28th last year. During the excavation of the brick pit in the northwest of Building No. 18, the archaeological team found two pottery dragon heads about 1 meter below the surface. Based on the geological accumulation and the simultaneous excavation of Tang Dynasty bricks, tiles, and Kaiyuan Tongbao coins from brick and tile pits, as well as relevant technological dating data, it is determined to be the Tang Dynasty dragon head, "said He Suili. According to relevant experts, there are very few surviving pottery dragon heads from the Tang Dynasty, and even fewer have been unearthed through archaeological excavations. Currently, only sporadic excavations have been found in places such as Heilongjiang, Shandong, and Henan, and they are not very complete. The Tang Dynasty pottery dragon head unearthed and relatively well preserved during this archaeological excavation is very rare. In less than a week, these two dragon heads were sent to the archaeological shelter of the Key Laboratory of Science and Technology Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for simultaneous protection, restoration, and research work. According to Liu Yong, assistant researcher at the Key Laboratory of Science and Technology Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and head of the laboratory's archaeological cabin, in order to restore the glory of the dragon head, the research team used indoor cleaning, multi view 3D imaging, relic extraction, ultrasonic cleaning, curved micro area X-ray fluorescence analysis, 3D laser scanning, virtual splicing, physical splicing, and replenishment technologies in the process of dragon head protection and restoration. In May of this year, two dragon heads were successfully restored, restoring the original appearance of Tang Dynasty dragon head building components. Research has shown that the head of Dragon 9 should be a hanging beast, while the head of Dragon 10 should be a hanging beast. Through restoration, it was found that the building where they were located had a ridge width of 45 centimeters and a ridge width of 30 centimeters, which can be imagined to be very magnificent and magnificent. ”Liu Yong said, "The vivid and realistic images of the two dragon heads, round and robust, and extraordinary aura, demonstrate the inclusiveness of Tang Dynasty dragon culture." In this exhibition, in addition to the two restored dragon heads, pottery, porcelain, tiles, gilded bronze Buddha and other artifacts unearthed from the ancient city ruins are also exhibited. A cultural relic labeled as pottery in the display cabinet attracted many viewers to stop and admire. The most important thing in the restoration of this cultural relic is the protection of the words on it, and it cannot be worn out during the restoration process. In fact, the restoration methods and techniques for each cultural relic are different, and a unique restoration plan needs to be adopted, "said Guo Zhengchen, a cultural relic restorer at the Key Laboratory of Science and Technology Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In order to confirm the purpose of this cultural relic, we put the repaired pottery in a protective bag and placed it on a scale. Then, we filled it with water until it was full, and the displayed weight was 2067 grams. After conversion, the volume of the pottery was 2067 milliliters, which is exactly equivalent to one bucket in the Han Dynasty, or 10 liters. So, it can be confirmed that this object is a measuring device. ”Liu Yong said. The four characters on top of Tao Liang have been verified to be 'Duxiang Dingli'. 'Duxiang' was the administrative unit where the county seat was located during the Qin and Han dynasties, which also became the empirical evidence of the ancient state city (formerly known as' Yancheng ') as the county seat. ”He Suili said. The Old Book of Tang records from Yancheng to Chang'an City: "(Mozhou) went 2310 miles to the capital." He Suili said that during the Tang Dynasty, there was a very close connection from the central to the local level, showing a strong centripetal force. The relationship between Chang'an and Yancheng is reflected in the fact that some of the architectural components and objects used in Chang'an can still be used locally, as can be seen from the unearthed cultural relics from the ancient city ruins. "He said," The 'Chang'an Heritage Treasures' section of this exhibition showcases important relics from the Tang Dynasty Chang'an City, including the Palace City, Daming Palace, Sanqing Hall, and Linde Hall. It is not difficult to find that some of the architectural components unearthed in Chang'an City, such as bricks, tiles, lotus tiles, as well as some ceramics, daily necessities, etc., have their shadows in the ancient city Lu Yahui, an associate researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of History who participated in the archaeological excavation of the Guzhou City site with He Suili, introduced that among the cultural relics discovered in the well, there were two porcelain jars, "one is celadon and the other is white porcelain. From their shapes, they are similar to those found in Chang'an City, which reflects the close connection between Yancheng and Chang'an at that time. An Jiayao, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of History, stated that from the perspective of architectural components, many of the Qingzhuwa, Lianhua Wadang, and dragon heads unearthed from the Guzhou City site were also found in Chang'an City. However, there is a slight difference between the two, and the one unearthed in Guzhou City is more vivid. One reason may be that Yancheng is farther away from Chang'an City, allowing craftsmen to have more freedom to explore. From the perspective of comparing the two, the archaeological excavation of the Guzhou City site is very meaningful. "Experts said that the" Chang'an Heritage "unit takes Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty as the grand background, exhibiting representative relics such as lotus patterned tiles, revealing that although Chang'an and Yancheng are 2310 miles away, they jointly interpret the cultural characteristics of the Tang Dynasty's" openness, inclusiveness, and diversity ". (New Society)